Market performance and distributional effects on renewable energy markets

A renewable obligation combined with tradable renewable energy certificates is a market-based instrument used to promote the production of electricity from renewable energy sources. A renewable obligation is an alternative for subsidies. A renewable obligation will only be an efficient instrument if certificate markets are efficient. This requires that there is no market power and no anti-competitive behaviour on the certificate market. If the current developments in Dutch renewable energy production continue, market power on a future renewable certificate market in the Netherlands will probably not be an issue, even if the RO should only rest on the retail market instead of on the whole electricity market. A renewable obligation will raise the retail price for consumers, thereby reducing consumer surplus. Simulations show that the retail electricity price increases with € 30 per MWh to a level of € 104 per MWh in case of a 30% renewable target. Consumer surplus is reduced with 19% compared to the baseline scenario. In contrast, a subsidy such as the Dutch SDE which is financed from the state budget has the effect to (slightly) lower the retail electricity price, thereby increasing consumer surplus. It should however be realised that the costs of the subsidy will indirectly affect electricity consumers through their tax payments.

Effects of agri-environmental measures and changes in EU single farm payments on Dutch agriculture

Part of the Health check of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union in 2008, will be a discussion of the linkage between direct payments to farmers and the contribution of agricultural production to social important values. The objective of this paper is to analyse the economic and environmental effects of extra region specific environmental measures and a redistribution of direct payments to the Dutch agricultural sector in 2020. In doing so a chain of models is used from the dairy farm level to the regional sector level in the Netherlands to the European sector level. From the dairy farm model it is found that the extra-environmental measures result in a decrease in the number of dairy cows per ha and a decrease in the gross margin per ha in the regions at hand. At maximum the gross margin decreases with about € 1,300 per ha. This is the case on intensive types of dairy farms in the Nature2000 areas. Linking and aggregating these results to the regional sector level and using the sector model of the Netherlands it is found that income from dairy farming at sector level and national milk production decreases with about 6%. Emission of ammonia decreases with 11% and Nitrogen (N) surplus at soil level decreases with 22%. However, economic and environmental results can be very different per type of dairy farm and province.economic models, model linking, policy, regions, dairy farming, environment and nature, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Livestock Production/Industries, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Demografie in de Natuurverkenning 2011

Demografische ontwikkelingen hebben invloed op natuur en landschap. Met name via ruimtebeslag door bebouwing, recreatieve consumptie en vestigingspatronen. In WOt-paper 3 wordt ingegaan op een studie die is uitgevoerd om input te leveren voor de omgevingsscenario's van de Natuurverkenning 2010-2040. Naast de lichte bevolkingsgroei die wordt voorzien, bepalen ook welvaart, samenstelling en herkomst van de bevolking het ruimtebeslag. Door de vergrijzing zal er een grotere behoefte zijn aan groen in de directe woonomgeving en aan wandel- en fietsmogelijkheden. De woonlocatie wordt steeds minder bepaald door sociale en economische motieven en steeds meer door kwaliteit van de woonomgeving. De druk op de Randstad neemt toe en wonen op het platteland nabij de stad is in trek